1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, a system, and a program of extending a function of an application.
2. Description of the Related Art
When data being edited or displayed using an application is printed using a printer, the printing is generally performed via a printer driver adapted to the printer. In the printing, in order to achieve a correct size desired by a user for a printed matter output by the printer, the user needs to properly set the application and the printer driver. In many general-purpose applications, a sheet size is allowed to be set within a range lower than a prescribed maximum size. Therefore, when a user wants to obtain a printed matter with an output size greater than the maximum size, the user needs to perform the following procedure: (1) A calculation is performed to determine the sheet size to be set in the application such that the sheet size has the same aspect ratio as that of the output size and the sheet size falls within the range allowed to be set in the application. Note that the term “output size” is used to describe the size employed in the outputting; (2) The calculated sheet size is set in the application; and (3) A printer driver is set in terms of a scaling factor such that the sheet size is correctly scaled to the output size.
In many applications, a technique/method to extend functions thereof is openly available. Specific examples of such applications include Microsoft Office, Microsoft Internet Explorer (registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation), etc. In these applications, users are allowed to extend a function by registering a function addition program called a plug-in program according to a method open to the public. A description on a specific method of extending a function of an application using a plug-in program may be found, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-216366.
To obtain a printed matter with a size greater than a maximum sheet size allowed to be specified in an application, a user needs to perform the above-described procedure that is time-consuming and troublesome. This problem may be solved by performing the above-described procedure by using a function extension capability provided by a plug-in program.
In general, plug-in programs are installed separately for respective applications. However, in Microsoft Office provided by Microsoft Corporation, a common-use plug-in program is allowed to be installed in a plurality of applications having different functions to extend the functions so that data produced by an application can be shared by other applications. These applications with different functions provided by Microsoft Office available from Microsoft Corporation are highly compatible with each other, and thus the common use of the plug-in program for all these applications can provide high usability.
However, in a case where a plug-in program is used in common by Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint, the maximum usable sheet size is different between these two applications. That is, the maximum sheet size usable for Microsoft Word is about 55 cm×55 cm, but about 130 cm×130 cm for Microsoft PowerPoint. Therefore, when data is produced by the plug-in program such that the data is edited/displayed with a maximum sheet size allowed for one of the applications, the following problem can occur.
When data produced by a first application is copied and pasted into a second application to use it therein, if there is a difference in sheet size set in these two applications, the size set in the first application cannot be directly employed in the second application. That is, in this case, it is necessary to open the first application and reset the sheet size to be the same as that set in the second application. Furthermore, it is necessary to modify sizes and/or locations of drawings or the like as required. On the other hand, when data with different sheet sizes produced by different applications are output on sheets with the same output size, it is necessary to calculate the scaling factor by which to scale the original sheet size to the final output size for each application, and it is further necessary to set the calculated scaling factor in the printer driver. The above-described problem becomes obvious in particular when printing is performed on a sheet with a size greater than the maximum sheet size settable in an application by using a large format printer or the like and by scaling the size using the printer driver as in a case where printing is performed on an elongated sheet, a banner, or the like. The problem described above causes users to have a great difficulty when printing is performed on a sheet with a great size using a general-purpose application.